256 



CERTAIN AXTIQUTTIES OF EASTERN MEXICO [eth. 



of the legs and the feet are much obscui'ed, and the hands wholly lost. 

 In plate cxiii, «, is represented another specimen, also from the Dehesa 

 collection, belonging to the hrst type. There is a remarkable simi- 

 larity between this specimen and the last-preceding one, both of which 

 represent human beings with sandaled feet, wearing bracelets and 

 anklets. 



Of the same general character is the ornamentation of a yoke (fig- 

 ured in plate cxiv) owned by the Sonora News Company, of Mexico 

 City. One of the significant variations in detail 

 })etween this and the last mentioned is the struc- 

 ture of the upper lip, which is here split into 

 three parts — a not uncommon feature in these 

 heads. While the face in plate cxv, a, is unlike 

 that represented in plates cxiii and cxiv, the 

 upper lip is split as in the latter specimen. 

 The second subdivision of the type of stone 

 j-okes representing animals is fairlj' well repre- 

 sented in all collections and has been figured 

 hy Strebel, Chavero, Holmes, and several other 

 authors. In most instances, as pointed out by 

 them, the figures represent frogs, but sometimes 

 the character of the feet seems to indicate clawed 

 or hoofed animals, suggesting lizards, panthers, 

 or tapii's. A beautiful specimen of a decorated 

 yoke of this kind is exhibited in the Museo 

 Xacional of ^Mexico City. 



A uniciue yoke in the Dehesa eoUeetion diflers 

 from others in the presence of rows of holes on 

 the lips or about the mouth, suggesting that teeth 

 were once inserted on the edge of the oral open- 

 ing. This yoke, shown in accompanying plate 

 (cxiii, c, rf), has the limbs carved on the sides, but 

 their appendages are so conventionalized that it 

 is impossible to tell what animal the maker in- 

 tended to represent. From the circular disks 

 on the head and from the general shape it is not 

 improbable that it was a frog. The relatively 

 enormous tongue protruding from the large mouth imparts a gro- 

 tesque feature to the whole object, which, in several particulars, is 

 one of the best specimens of j'oke ever found. 



Yokes of the second group are reducil)le to two kinds: (1) those hav- 

 ing a single head, four limbs, and a body represented on each yoke, and 

 (2) those with several, generally three, heads cut in relief on each yoke, 

 one on the arched end and one on each arm of the yoke. In this type 

 appendages and bodies may or may not be represented and there may 



Fig. 61. Side view of stone 

 yoke, second group. 

 (Dehesa collection.) 



